A quick look at Bob Marley's "Zimbabwe" lyrics from 1979 reveals with heartbreaking irony just how short this country of 12 million has fallen of attaining the ideals affirmed in the revolution of 1980.

Lines like "No more internal power struggle; We come together to overcome the little trouble," and "To divide and rule could only tear us apart; In everyman chest, mm - there beats a heart," are enough to make you cringe in recognition of the sickening contrast between Marley's upbeat vision of the country's future and the bleak reality of its present.

(Interesting sidenote: It's possible Marley guessed Zimbabwe's eventual fate when the Wailers' played a show in Zimbabwe as a part of the independence celebrations in 1980 - as the band played to a select group of dignitaries and officials for their first performance in the country, thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans were held back from the concert with tear gas, much of which found its way over to the main stage and in the faces of Marley and his musicians. Needless to say, the performance was cut short.)

The subject of Marley's anthem found itself featured in international headlines once again today as the UN Security Council released its first statement denouncing the wave of violence which has overwhelmed the country since the results of the March 29^th election and dismissing the possibility that the runoff election scheduled for this Friday could go forth under fair circumstances. This statement follows the announcement yesterday of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to drop out of the presidential race, as he cited the impossibility of a free and fair election and concern for the safety of his supporters. (For a good indication of the kind of violence faced by opposition supporters, check this article out - scary stuff.)

To make matters worse, two million of the country's poorest citizens will face a severe food crisis in the coming months as inflation approaches an almost laughable 100,000% - all thanks to the disastrous economic reforms, pervasive corruption and political heavy-handedness of longtime President/Dictator Robert Mugabe's ruling regime.

So what can be done to remedy the current situation? As a perusal of the homepages of both the Council on Foreign Relations website and its Foreign Policy counterpart suggests, despite the Security Council's statement today and the New York Times' broad coverage of the situation, Zimbabwe's troubles are not high on Western foreign policy agendas.

Instead, Tsvangirai and his supporters will more likely look towards their African neighbors for help in navigating the crisis, probably in the form of the South African Development Community (SADC), an organization comprising fourteen member states in southern Africa. Although some leaders in the SADC have been open in denouncing Mugabe and the brutal methods of his ZANU-PF party, the most powerful, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, is viewed by many as infuriatingly soft in his approach to the aging President. Thankfully, Mbeki's domestic rival, Jacob Zuma, stepped up today with some strong rhetoric condemning Mugabe's ruling party and hopefully increasing the political pressure on Mbeki to take a similar line.

To use Marley's phrase, Mr. Mugabe has steadily proven over the last ten years that he is no longer the "real revolutionary" in Zimbabwean society but has instead morphed into a stubborn and corrupt barrier to healthy economic and political progress. Let's just hope that Zimbabwe's African peers will make the moves necessary to help steer the country towards a brighter future. Because without oil, real geopolitical significance, or a pro-West leader, it doesn't look like anyone else will.